David Norris (Independent)

I thank the Minister for his gracious reply and, in particular, for his words of sympathy to the mother of the young man, which I will certainly pass on with a copy of his statement. I wish to comment briefly on the statement, in particular the Minister of State's remark that the IMB "has a spontaneous reporting system by which health care professionals and patients can report suspected adverse reactions" and that it is continuously monitoring. This simply has not worked. In fact, it has been useless. As I understand it, the IMB has not even replied to this woman.

I want to further put on the record that the assistant State pathologist, Dr. Declan Gilsenan, has expressed very considerable concern in this area and lent his full weight to it. He said he has seen too many suicides among people who had started taking these drugs and, in his considered view, the evidence was more than anecdotal and he was hoping to raise the matter directly with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. This adds strength to the case, which has the support of Dr. Gilsenan, Professor Healy, Dr. Pat Bracken and Dr. Terry Lynch. I would be grateful if the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, would draw this to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. Perhaps she may be prepared to see a delegation.